Warriors rebound, whip Memphis

Updated 11:26 pm, Saturday, December 7, 2013

The Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson (11) shoots while defended by the Memphis Grizzlies' Jon Leuer at the FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013. Golden State won, 108-82. (Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal/MCT) less

The Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson (11) shoots while defended by the Memphis Grizzlies' Jon Leuer at the FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013. Golden State won, 108-82. (Nikki ... more

Photo: Nikki Boertman, McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Warriors rebound, whip Memphis

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MEMPHIS - Sometimes an NBA team will simply write off the second of back-to-back road games as an automatic loss.

Saturday, the Warriors used their game in Memphis as a way to respond to their ugly loss a night earlier in Houston.

The Warriors showed resiliency in snapping an 11-game losing streak to Memphis and used their 108-82 victory at the FedEx Forum to correct many of the ills that tainted their 22-point debacle in Houston.

"Last night was very frustrating, so to be able to get back at it, start clicking on all cylinders and play well as a team was huge," said Warriors power forward David Lee, who had 23 points, 11 rebounds and three steals in his 97th consecutive double-digit scoring game.

The Warriors (12-9) never trailed and took a 14-point first-quarter lead over the Grizzlies (9-10) - just one night after falling behind by 19 points in the first frame and being down by as many as 28 in the third quarter.

After establishing season lows in field-goal shooting, three-point shooting and assists against Houston, the Warriors hit half of their field-goal attempts and 44.4 percent of their threes and nearly doubled up the Grizzlies in assists (24-13).

Stephen Curry finished with 22 points, 15 assists and six rebounds and just one turnover, Klay Thompson bounced back from a 2-for-10 night with 30 points on 12-of-19 shooting, and Andrew Bogut added eight points, 12 rebounds and two blocked shots.

"I thought we showed who we truly are," head coach Mark Jackson said. "We've been upset with the way we've played, and we came in here against a team that we have not had any success at all against, and we got a quality win."

The resounding response had to feel especially good to the Warriors, who hadn't won in Memphis since April 4, 2008. To put that in perspective, no current Golden State player had ever before won in Memphis while wearing a Warriors uniform.

The Grizzlies played without Defensive Player of the Year Marc Gasol (left medial collateral ligament sprain) and all-league defender Tony Allen (sore right hip), and they lost Quincy Pondexter to a foot sprain before the second half. But that couldn't change the good vibes for the Warriors. They had lost six of their previous nine games and had gotten away with terrible starts against Sacramento and Toronto.

The Warriors got off to the best start in their past four games, building a 24-10 lead. They led 11-10 before Bogut did a little bit of everything during a 3 1/2-minute span that sparked the run.

After taking only six first-half shots, Curry made back-to-back three-pointers to pass Jason Richardson as the franchise's all-time career leader with 701 threes and to give the Warriors a 55-45 lead 1:10 into the third quarter. The Warriors went on to extend their advantage to 17 in the third quarter and 26 in the fourth.

"It was a big win for us, but the key for us is to not feel like we've done anything," Curry said. "We can be excited about it tonight, but if we go drop an egg in Charlotte (on Monday), don't play hard, don't play like we did tonight, it all goes for nothing."

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